A MUM who was threatened with deportation and being taken away from her two young children has won the right to remain with her family in Greenock.

Nadine McGuire, 30, faced being sent back to her native South Africa - and separation from her two-year-old son Kian, daughter Kailyn, six, and husband David, 40 - in a row over a visa.

The family settled in Greenock in April 2018 after being forced to flee their home near Durban because of increasing violence and a lack of employment opportunities.

Glasgow-born husband David and their two children are legally allowed to stay in the UK because they have British passports, while Nadine had been living here on a temporary visa having been assured she would be granted a permanent one.

But the mum-of-two was stunned when her application was refused and was then told she would likely have to leave her family and return to South Africa to start the lengthy and expensive emigration process from scratch.

The Tele highlighted their ordeal back in April this year and over £2,000 was raised to help the McGuires pay to appeal the decision having already spent all their savings on the initial visa bid.

A judge has now overturned the ruling and given Nadine the green light to remain with her family in the west end of Greenock.

Nadine told the Telegraph: "We were told that doesn't happen very often.

"But the judge said it was a pretty straightforward case because we have very young kids, including a daughter who is in school, and there's no way that taking their main carer off them would not have a huge impact.

"It was pure elation when we found out.

"We're on cloud nine.

"It's such a relief."

Nadine has been granted a spousal visa under the right to family life, as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

She was initially told that there were 'no insurmountable' reasons for her to remain with her family in Greenock and she could keep in touch through modern methods of communication.

But a judge has now overruled immigration officials.

Husband David, who is a mechanical engineer, secured a job within four weeks of moving back to the country of his birth and the family were settling in well until the visa bombshell.

He emigrated to South Africa when he was four months old with his mum and dad, who worked at John Brown's shipyard and Inchgreen in Greenock.

Growing political unrest, racial discrimination and safety fears in recent years meant he had to look elsewhere for a better life for his family.

David was being overlooked for jobs and had first-hand experience of the violence after having his wrists slashed in an horrific attack and being robbed at gunpoint while out with friends.

The family are now enjoying a better life in Greenock and paid tribute to the kindness of the Inverclyde public, including Tele readers and the congregation of the Ardgowan Square Evangelical Church.

She said: "We are very grateful for all the support we have found within the community and are now continuing with our lives with a huge burden off our shoulders.

"My son is due to start nursery soon and everybody is commenting on how happy my daughter is at school and how well she's doing academically.

"We've had absolutely amazing support, from all the well-wishes following the original article in the paper to the donations from pure strangers. "We really appreciate it."